Despite popularity of video gambling, poker malls stall

Video gambling has become increasingly popular since their appearance a few years back in bars and restaurants in Illinois.

Today, these machines are available everywhere in the world and there is no need to visit Illinois in order to enjoy a nice gambling session. In the state alone there are around 20,730 of these video gambling machines and their number has considerably increased in the past few years. This state alone has already recorded a $200 million revenue for 2015.

Although gambling is not regulated in Chicago, they have more video gambling machines than Illinois. Winnebago, Lake, Will, and Sangamon Counties are next in line when it comes to number of machines owned. Springfield sports nearly 550 such video gaming terminals.

The reality is that gambling has continued to drop despite the high popularity of video gambling machines. Riverboat gambling, lottery and horse racing are all struggling to keep up and they claim the main reason is that these establishments are not allowed to have slots games on their premises.

"At what point... you know, when you're putting up multiple locations under one [roof] you're essentially creating a casino," declared Democrat Rep. Bob Rita, who is against this phenomenon. He says he considers them video gaming malls and this is not what Illinois had in mind when allowing these machines to appear in the state.

For this reason, Rita is putting forth a petition to stop operators from obtaining licensing to put up "casino malls".